50% of Nigerians need social housing

According to the estimates of stakeholders in the real estate financing sector, more than 50% of Nigerians need social housing

Stakeholders state that about 85 % of Nigerians still live in rented apartments and pay more than 40 % of their annual income as rents.

Lead Capital Plc Chief Executive Officer Lead, Prince Bimbo Olashore said that the real estate sector, despite its potential, was plagued with several challenges.

Olashore noted:  “About 50 per cent of Nigerians need social housing because they cannot afford the luxury developments that are currently being built. Land registration, access to finance, infrastructure deficit and importation of raw materials were some of the problems in the sector. It takes 82 days to register land and about 20.9 % of the value of the property is also required; these are challenges but they are also not insurmountable”.

FSDH Merchant Bank Limited Managing Director, Rilwan Belo-Osagie said that with the rising population of the country, there should be better policies to propel the housing sector.

“Development for low income earners is almost non-existent and the bankability of residential real estate is still a major issue. We will always have challenges in the sector except the problems in the value chain are addressed,” he said.

Infrastructure Bank of Nigeria Managing Director, Adekunle Oyinloye added the sector is plagued by untapped potential, especially in the residential real estate subsector.

According to him: “There’s nowhere in the world where social housing is left for the private sector or the pricing won’t be right for those who really need housing”.

Naij.com